The third-largest city in Colorado has awarded licenses to 21 businesses to create the city’s first recreational marijuana shops. The earliest any of them will be open is Oct. 1. Read more from Carlos Illescas.

If you haven’t heard of “swatting,” here’s my short description: It’s like the old prank where you call and get a pizza delivered to someone’s house, except it’s a heavily armed SWAT team and someone could very easily get killed. Unfortunately for some video game developers in Littleton, during a livestream from their office, someone did just that. The resulting video has been seen a quarter of a million times, and now officers are on the hunt for the perpetrator of the hoax.

“Castle Rock voters have taken away the town manager’s power to restrict the open carry of firearms in public buildings and parks, while simultaneously, insisting that any future decisions on gun restrictions in town of 50,000 go to a vote of the people.” John Aguilar unravels the issue here.

Having trouble keeping up with the day’s news? Want breaking news alerts for your favorite teams? Sign up here.

The University of Colorado leadership is grappling with how to address a nationwide nosedive in the favorability of higher education — particularly, among conservatives — as CU’s own representatives and decision-makers disagree on what’s behind the downturn.